Duskfall

4. Into the Dark

When Lia came to it was dark. So dark, in fact, that she doubted for a moment that she had opened her eyes. She closed them and tried again. The overwhelming darkness seemed only to thicken. She was sitting on something hard, the ground she assumed, testing it with her hands. Grit stuck to her palms and the sound of pebbles skittering away filled her ears as she swept her hands across cool stone. She closed her eyes and opened them again, willing her sight to return. The darkness persisted.

"Oh God," she muttered. Immediately, light burst into being a few feet away. She blinked against it, her eyes watering. When her vision cleared, she sighed in relief. Vigil sat across from her, leaning against the wall of what looked like a cave, his corona glowing dimly. She tried to look down at herself, but the darkness surrounding her was still all-consuming. She could see Vigil, and she could see things near him, but nothing else.

"I told you to run," Vigil said, voice low.

"Where are we?" She already knew.

"Where do you think?" He snorted.

"That shadehound..."

"You killed it," he said. "For all the good that does us."

Lia looked again, down at herself, at the darkness, and moved closer to Vigil, reaching out a hand. A foot from touching his chest, her hand broke through the shadow, like a diver coming up for air. Carefully, Lia crawled forward and arranged herself next to him, their sides nearly touching.

"Oh, now you want to be near me," he said.

Lia rolled her eyes. She immediately as a wave of dizziness made her head spin.

"Don't you ever stop?" she asked him sharply. "Can't you–"

"Can't I what? Be grateful you bothered?" he asked. "I'll give you that: you're probably the only one who would have."

Lia's anger drained away. "That's not what I–"

He exhaled, long and low. "You don't need to explain. I know what you meant."

There was nothing Lia could say to that, so she stayed quiet. The silence stretched out, thick as the darkness around them. She could hear nothing but their breathing. Hers, slightly labored, and his, irregular. She wondered if the shadehound had injured him before she'd killed it, but knew that he would resent her asking.

"How deep into this cave are we?" she asked instead.

"About ten feet."

"What?" Lia whipped her head around to look at him. He hadn't moved from his steady contemplation of nothing.

"The entrance to this cave is about ten feet that way." He inclined his head slightly to his left.

"How can we-- How can--," she stammered, fatigue and confusion and shock all catching up to her. "How can we do anything, get out of here, in this." Lia waved at the shadows and they crept forward before retreating again from Vigil. She dropped her hand.

"It's not always like this," Vigil offered. "Let's say that the night here is...absolute. Anyway, what makes you think we'll get out of here?"

"You did it before."

"And look how that worked out for the last person who went through a Nightshade Door with me." His voice was flat.

It was all Lia could do not to shake him.

"When I said I didn't care about your past I meant it. I am getting out of here and if I'm getting out of here, you are too. That's it. There are no other options."

"You're a bad liar." He met her eyes. "You do care. The entire damned country cares."

Lia scowled at him, but before she could reply, he spoke again.